Verdict
It falls wanting the very best on battery life and general efficiency, however the Acer Swift X 14 is an outstanding and succesful laptop computer for creatives needing a conveyable system.
Execs
- Trendy, slim and light-weight design
- Lovely 14.5-inch OLED display screen
- Quick Core i7 CPU and RTX GPU
- Snug ergonomics
Cons
- Disappointing battery life
- Equally specced machines are quicker
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Vibrant and correct showIt’s an uncommon measurement with an uncommon 2880 x 1800 decision, however colors and distinction are implausible. -
Extraordinarily succesful artistic efficiencyThis 14-core CPU can work twenty threads at speeds of as much as 5GHz. -
Gaming and creator graphics capabilitiesRegardless of a 50W energy restrict, this GPU remains to be able to rushing up artistic apps and working fashionable video games.
Introduction
The Acer Swift X 14 is a brand new 14.5-inch entry within the rising Swift X household, delivering extra efficiency than most ultraportable laptops in a physique you can nonetheless name skinny and light-weight. What’s extra, like earlier Swift X laptops, its crowning glory is a lovely, high-resolution OLED display screen.
It’s a spec designed to tempt extra demanding artistic customers on the lookout for a Home windows different to the MacBook Air or MacBook Professional, but additionally anybody on the lookout for a high-end system that doesn’t compromise on portability or energy.
Positive, you’ll discover larger, quicker artistic or gaming laptops that make the Swift X 14 look comparatively puny, however you’ll have a tough time discovering one with these appears, or in a physique you can sling in a backpack and lug round with ease once you’re on the transfer.
Design and Keyboard
- Gentle 1.55kg weight, slim physique and compact footprint
- Sturdy wired and wi-fi connectivity
- Wonderful keyboard and {smooth}, glass-feel trackpad
Acer has lengthy produced handsome laptops, but it surely doesn’t all the time get issues proper and a few fashions don’t look or really feel that premium when you go hands-on. That’s not the case with the Swift X 14 – it’s a magnificence. It has a compact desktop footprint of simply 322.8 x 228.1mm, with a subtly curved, wedge-shaped profile that’s below 18mm thick even on the rear. The ‘Iron’-coloured aluminium chassis has a quite pretty, satin-smooth end, with any seams solely simply noticeable on the underside of the unit. There’s barely any give or signal of weak spot to be discovered anyplace, but it weighs simply 1.55kg.
It’s not precisely silent, with the vents beneath and on the rear emitting a reasonably fixed, low-pitched hiss, however the sound from the redesigned stereo ring fan system is the worth you pay for a devoted GPU, and you may swap it into Silent mode if you happen to’re pleased to sacrifice some velocity for peace and quiet.
All of the connectivity sits on the left and proper edges, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left with a single USB Sort-A and an HDMI 2.1 output, plus an extra USB Sort-A alongside a microSD card slot on the suitable. Like most of Acer’s new laptops, it helps Wi-Fi 6E as commonplace, so if you happen to’ve upgraded your router you’ll be good to go.
The keyboard is without doubt one of the finest I’ve encountered on an Acer laptop computer in a while. It has the well-spaced, flat-topped keys typical of Acer fashions, and a smart format the place the Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Enter keys are the place you’ll count on them, and appropriately sized. Our early evaluate model had a US or Worldwide format with no £ signal, however with Home windows set to make use of a UK format, I solely seen after few days of use.
The motion is nice, with a few millimetres journey and satisfying tactile suggestions as you press and launch every key. I’ve only one grievance. Acer has positioned an on/off key within the top-right nook, simply the place the Delete key normally sits. As a author, I hit the Delete key quite a bit. You possibly can in all probability guess what occurs right here, even when the ability key doesn’t do quite a bit until you maintain it down.
The trackpad makes use of Acer’s Oceanglass recycled plastic floor, but it surely feels surprisingly near common glass. If something, I discovered it barely too delicate in use, often registering unintentional contact with a palm, inflicting me to click on the mistaken factor on the display screen. This wasn’t a large problem, and the beneficiant measurement and excessive ranges of accuracy make it attainable to do some pretty exact and detailed work with out reaching for a mouse.
Curiously, the Oceanglass is similar as utilized in Acer’s eco-conscious Vero laptops, although that’s the place the Swift X 14’s inexperienced credentials finish, bar the standard vitality effectivity provisions. Nonetheless, the packaging is all cardboard with no plastic inserts, so not less than that’s not contributing to international waste.
Show and Sound
- Very good readability because of 14.5-inch measurement and 1800p decision
- Good ranges of brightness and spectacular color efficiency
- Nice audio for leisure, chats and conferences
Subjectively, the Swift X 14’s display screen is gorgeous. It’s shiny, whites are as pure as you can hope for and the colors are extremely wealthy and vibrant. With an uncommon 14.5-inch display screen measurement and determination of 2880 x 1800, it’s fantastically crisp and clear. It’s all the time signal after I spend extra time than I actually need streaming video to take a look at completely different films, exhibits and trailers, and I did that quite a bit whereas testing Acer’s newest. It’s as sensible for bingeing Netflix as it’s for workplace work finished or modifying video.
Examined with a colorimeter, it’s each bit as spectacular. Max SDR brightness sits at 389 nits, and with the standard OLED black luminance of zero nits, we’re speaking infinite ranges of distinction – which should be adequate for most individuals. It covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut, 99.9% of DCI-P3 and 96.5% of Adobe RGB. Don’t know what which means? Don’t fear. Should you’re an expert designer, photographer or video editor, this show covers your necessities and provides you correct colors.
It’s a good-sounding laptop computer too, delivering richer, rounder audio than you’ll normally get from slimmer, extra light-weight fashions. There’s just a little congestion within the mid-range and the sound can change into harsh at increased volumes, however there’s a good stereo unfold and that helps make video games and flicks come alive.
Conferences, calls and video chats gained’t be an issue, both. The built-in mic array does a strong job of selecting out your voice from any background noise, and the 1080p webcam delivers clear, well-exposed video even in difficult lighting. You might spot just a little overexposure close to shiny home windows, however I’ll take that over gloomy and underexposed, any day.
Efficiency
- Sturdy efficiency for artistic purposes
- Not the quickest laptop computer with this Core i7 spec
- GPU can deal with work and gaming, because of DLSS 3
The Swift X 14 has the identical Core i7-13700H CPU and 16GB RAM we noticed in its shut cousin, the Acer Swift Go 14, together with an RTX 4050 GPU, working at a most 50W. There’s a 1TB SSD onboard too. It’s a high-performance CPU, with 14 cores working as much as 20 threads at speeds of as much as 5GHz, relying on the configuration.
Curiously, the Swift X 14 benchmarks just a little slower than the Swift Go 14, with Geekbench 6 outcomes of 2275 (single-core) and 8674 (multi-core) to the Swift Go 14’s 2456 and 11724. In PCMark 10, the Swift X 14 posted an general results of 5895 towards the Swift Go’s 6160. It’s additionally behind another rivals in Geekbench 6, together with the Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED and Zenbook S 13 OLED, although the Swift X 14 is quicker than both in PC Mark 10.
The RTX 4050 comes with NVIDIA’s Studio drivers preinstalled, and with its restricted wattage is right here extra to assist artistic purposes than play the most recent blockbuster video games. Nonetheless, so long as you’re lifelike, the Swift X 14 will assist some gaming after working hours. On Extremely settings in Returnal, you’re taking a look at 48fps at a 1080p decision or 33fps at QHD, however you could have the selection to show the element settings down or use DLSS 3 for a body charge enhance. In QHD this was sufficient to succeed in 43fps.
Cyberpunk with ray tracing set to Extremely is a bit a lot to ask, with the body charge chugging at 17.92fps at 1080p, dropping to 10.74fps at 1440p. Nonetheless, you will get 47fps at 1080p on Extremely settings with ray tracing turned off, or you will get a superbly playable 51.81fps with DLSS 3 and Body Technology enabled. Be warned, although, that this makes the controls really feel ever so barely laggy.
Software program
- Software program heavier on upselling than offering helpful apps
- Too many trials, not sufficient instruments
Acer and its software program companions are likely to pre-install a big selection of apps on Acer laptops, and the Swift X 14 is not any exception. There are icons for Dropbox and Reserving.com apps on the taskbar, whereas Acer has its Purified Voice Console and Jumpstart apps sitting within the Begin menu. The previous is a microphone configuration utility, the latter only a hyperlink to Acer’s on-line retailer. DTS:X Extremely and DTS Sound Unbound may also be discovered there, together with WhatsApp, Evernote, an ExpressVPN trial and a hyperlink to obtain the Planet9 gaming shopper. Most appear to have extra to do with advertising and marketing alternatives than offering helpful instruments for the Swift X 14’s audience.
Battery life
- Battery life won’t get you thru a full working day
- Count on simply over 5 hours of streaming on a full cost
Battery life is the one space the place the Swift X 14 is barely disappointing. Positive, it’s a strong laptop computer with a devoted graphics chip and a large OLED display screen, however I’d nonetheless hoped for just a little greater than seven hours and 13 minutes in PC Mark 10’s Fashionable Workplace battery benchmark. In any case, the Swift Go 14 managed 9 hours and 42 minutes, whereas the Asus Vivobook S OLED 14 lasted for over eleven.
Normally use, I discovered it made it via a working day, however I’d usually discover ranges low and battery warnings kicking in if I wanted to do one thing later within the night. As a principally home-based employee, this isn’t a difficulty for me, but it surely is perhaps for somebody who spends extra of their time on the go. As for video streaming, an hour at full brightness noticed the cost degree drop by 18%, so you need to get greater than 5 hours earlier than it runs flat.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
You want a conveyable laptop computer that may deal with pro-level artistic apps
CPU efficiency may very well be higher however you’re getting plenty of horsepower in a slim-and-light unit, together with strong ergonomics and a very good display screen. And it doesn’t it damage that it might additionally run video games.
You want extra efficiency, mobility or battery life
The Swift X 14 remains to be a compromise, with different laptops providing extra velocity, a slimmer, lighter design or longer battery life. It offers you stability throughout all three areas, but it surely’s not fairly excellent.
Remaining Ideas
The Swift X 14 doesn’t get the whole lot proper, but it surely’s an excellent laptop computer for cellular creatives, with a display screen and ergonomics you possibly can work with all day lengthy and ample CPU and GPU energy. It additionally is available in a type issue small and light-weight sufficient that it gained’t weigh you down between house and a shopper, or the workplace.
There are another robust choices on the market, with their very own implausible OLED screens. These embrace the Asus Zenbook 15 OLED and Zenbook S 13 OLED, to not point out Acer’s personal Swift Go 14. But none of those supply the identical mixture of portability, display screen high quality and devoted GPU efficiency, even when each beats the Swift X 14 in a single space or one other. That is the place Acer’s newest comes out on prime, offering the whole lot you’d need for skilled design, graphics or video in a package deal that’s not simply sensible, however premium in each manner. For some extra picks, take a look at our greatest OLED laptops information.
How we check
Each laptop computer we evaluate goes via a sequence of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues, together with construct high quality, efficiency, display screen high quality and battery life.
These embrace formal artificial benchmarks and scripted checks, plus a sequence of real-world checks, comparable to how properly it runs in style apps.
We use machines as our predominant laptop computer for not less than every week.
We check the efficiency through each benchmark checks and real-world use.
We check the display screen with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We check the battery with a benchmark check and real-world use.
FAQs
In easy phrases, Aspire is Acer’s finances to mid-range set of laptops whereas Swift focuses on mid-range to high-end laptops.
The Acer Swift X 14 might be overkill for a lot of college students, who might be higher suited taking a look at productivity-focused machines. However, in case your research includes artistic work that advantages from having an correct show, then this laptop computer might go well with you.
Trusted Opinions check information
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23 multi core
Cinebench R23 single core
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn velocity
CrystalDiskMark Write Velocity
Brightness (SDR)
Black degree
Distinction ratio
White Visible Color Temperature
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Battery discharge after 60 minutes of on-line Netflix playback
Cyberpunk 2077 (Quad HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + RT)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + Supersampling)
Returnal (Quad HD)
Returnal (Full HD)
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
CA RRP
CPU
Producer
Quiet Mark Accredited
Display screen Measurement
Storage Capability
Entrance Digital camera
Battery
Battery Hours
Measurement (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Mannequin Quantity
Mannequin Variants
Decision
HDR
Refresh Fee
Ports
GPU
RAM
Connectivity
Colors
Show Expertise
Contact Display screen
Convertible?
